From beer with sprouts to sparkling wine with turkey, Blur star Alex James reveals best booze for Christmas food
FORGET glugging an average white or red with your festive feast this year – how about cocktails with your Christmas pud or cherry brandy with chocolates?
Here, Alex James – Blur bassist, food and drink aficionado, founder of the annual Big Feastival, cheesemaker and the curator of Britpop Wines – picks his favourite tipples to match some Crimbo culinary favourites.
Mince pie: Dry sherry
DRY sherry all the way with a mince pie. It’s gone a bit out of fashion as everyone always associates it with old ladies. But try it as it is a real bargain.
Christmas is when you can go on a proper drinks safari and you’ll get an excellent sherry in the supermarket for the same price as you would pay for an average chardonnay.
It will taste brilliant with a warm mince pie and balance perfectly with the fruit and pastry. I’d like to say I make my own pies but it is so easy to buy them.
But what I do is take the pastry roof off then squish some blue cheese on the top for a delicious, mad car crash in your mouth.
- Sun suggests: Tio Pepe Fino Sherry, 75cl £13.25 (£11 with Nectar Card), sainsburys.co.uk.
Cheeseboard: Ice cold cider
CHEESE with a glass of cider is a total marriage made in Heaven.
It is the perfect food-and-drink pairing because it doesn’t matter what cheese it is, cider is pretty much guaranteed to work with it.
It’s like when they judge cheeses at shows, they’ll have a bite of apple between mouthfuls.
But it’s essential the cider is served really, really cold. Why not go the full Withnail And I and put some ice cubes in it?
All you really need is one massive chunk of any cheese and a pint of ice-cold cider and you are all set – see you in the New Year!
- Sun suggests: Specially Selected H. Westons & Sons Vintage Cider, 750ml, £2.39 Aldi (in stores).
Smoked salmon: Shot of vodka
THIS is a classy Boxing Day breakfast if you have survived the day before.
Smoked salmon with James Bond’s favourite spirit, a neat, frozen vodka shot on the side. Absolutely amazing.
You could even sprinkle a nice grind of black pepper on the top, like he does in Moonraker. That will cut through the oiliness of the slithers of fish nicely.
Little squares of buttered brown bread alongside is totally posh.
Or just roll up the salmon, knock back your shot and then keep going . . .
- Sun suggests: M&S Distilled 5 Times British Vodka, 700ml, £19, ocado.com or M&S stores.
Sprouts: Beer
NOW is the time for an ice-cold beer. My family eats sprouts as a festive snack and last year we got through an entire sack of them.
They taste incredible deep fried at low temperature, served with a bit of soy sauce to dip them in.
If you think you don’t like them, try them this way, in coleslaw, or add bacon and chestnuts. Or cheese, of course.
The slight bitterness in beer connects well with brassicas. But it must be ice cold when you drink it.
Pop your glass in the freezer for 30 minutes before you pour, to give it that lovely frosted mist on the outside.
Celebrate microbreweries and go for a local classic beer if you can.
- – Sun suggests: Loose Cannon Lager 676, 330ml, £2.49, laithwaites.co.uk.
Chocolate yule log: Cherry liquer
CHERRY and chocolate are amazing together. Cherry liqueur, cherry brandy or any kind of cherry booze is what you want with chocolatey things at Christmas.
Like a marvellous, boozy Black Forest gateau in your mouth and the perfect digestif.
We make our own liqueur on the farm, distilled with cherries, honey and water. But you can buy cherry brandy in supermarkets.
Serve it at room temperature, or you could try warming it up if you like.
It has got a kick, so go steady if you have got to do a jigsaw puzzle later.
- Sun suggests: De Kuyper Cherry Brandy Liqueur, 50cl, £12.75 (£10.50 Clubcard price), tesco.com.
Turkey: Sparkling wine
THIS needs celebratory fizz to go with it. Even if it’s just a turkey sandwich and a glass of bubbly, that’s a party for one right there.
Sparkling wine is light so it’s perfect. And bubbles work nicely to cleanse your tongue.
Make sure you’ve got plenty to go round, as everyone always wants more than one glass. I’d go with two bottles per person.
A Bucks Fizz made with half sparkling wine and half orange juice is great with turkey, too. English sparkling wines are up there with the best in the world.
I will be opening a bottle or six of my Britpop English sparkling wine.
- Sun suggests: Britpop Brut by Alex James, 75cl, £25, laithwaites.co.uk.
Christmas pudding: Advocaat
GO full 1970s classic and pour an Advocaat with your Christmas pud.
It’s like a sexy little boozy custard. I’m not quite sure what’s in it, apart from eggs, and I’m not sure I want to know – but it’s really festive.
You could add lemonade to make a snowball cocktail, too. That will work nicely to cool the inside of your mouth if you light the top of your pud with brandy before putting it on the table. A bit like an alcoholic fire extinguisher.
I’m usually too full for Christmas pudding after turkey but the little ones you put in the microwave are nice in the run-up.
Mini pudding, brandy butter, retro Advocaat cocktail . . . and then a snooze.
- Sun suggests: Warninks Original Advocaat Liqueur, 70cl, £15.50, asda.com.
Pigs in blankets: Mulled apple juice
PORK and apple match brilliantly, so a mug of warm mulled apple juice is ideal.
You can use any juice you have got, stick a pan on the hob and raid your cupboards for any spices hanging around.
You definitely want some sticks of cinnamon in the mix, then maybe star anise, cloves, slices of apple, orange, even frozen fruit. Literally chuck in whatever you’ve got.
Bring it to a simmer. The house will immediately smell like Christmas and everyone will come running.
Nice for the kids and optionally, to make it knockout for the adults, you could also add calvados at the last minute. Then bust out Aunt Mabel’s best glassware to serve it in.
- Sun suggests: Apple juice, 1L, £1.45, morrisons.com.
My tips for a hit big day
GET A WHOLE CHEESE: YOU can’t go wrong with a whole wheel of cheese at Christmas.
Eat it with fruit cake, straight from the fridge, or melt it to jazz up your leftovers – cheese goes with everything. Find one you like from a local cheesemonger or farmers’ market and it will be top value too. (Alex James Blue Monday Cheese, from £7.70, thecheesesociety.co.uk
TAKE A CHRISTMAS WALK: I’M a big fan of a family walk after lunch. We eat at midday then have a nice stroll while it is still light, until the kids are moaning.
They can’t open presents until we have had a walk, that’s the deal. A hit of fresh air, like a little spa break, then back home ready for gifts, your next big chunk of cheese and a sleep in front of the telly.
HAVE A SING-SONG: INSTEAD of telly one night, I love singing carols such as We Wish You A Merry Christmas and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. If anyone is musical, get them to play. If not, download a karaoke app. Brilliant when you have had a few to drink.
INDULGE IN LEFTOVERS: THE best bit of Christmas! Cold roasties, cheese, pigs in blankets – you can’t beat a good leftovers fridge buffet. Open some sparkling wine and it’ll make everything seem glamorous. I’d go for my Britpop Rose pink fizz (£28) with a cold plate.
BOXING DAY MOVIE: IT is nice to watch a film as a family on Boxing Day. Musicals such as Bugsy Malone, old classics like Calamity Jane or Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, or, for something different, a Japanese animation like Spirited Away. With some crisps. And more cheese.
- Sun readers can get 30 per cent off Britpop English sparkling wine by Alex James and sitewide at laithwaites.co.uk throughout December. Enter code 30OFF.